The Skin House
by SittingInACoffeeShop
Summary: Kaoru wakes up with a torture device on his face and strapped down. How did a simple camping trip turn into this nightmare?
1. Prologue

**Writing two stories at once…yes. You know why? Because A) I want to; B) This one will be quite dark so I need to keep at least a little bit of my sanity in check, so I'm writing another story along with this one. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I will say now though WARNING: THIS STORY WILL CONTAIN GORE/ABUSE/POSSIBLE SEXUAL ABUSE/TORTURE/ETC.**

**So…yeah…you've been warned :]**

**Enjoy!**

**The Skin House**

**Prologue**

_Screaming._

_Shouting._

_Blood._

_Who are you?_

_Why are you doing this?_

_Leave us alone._

_Don't touch them._

_Don't touch my brother._

_Hikaru…_

_Tamaki…_

_Kyoya…_

_Please…_

_Ple-_

Kaoru's beautiful, hazel eyes opened slowly. His vision was foggy, making it impossible for him to tell where he was. What had happened?

All he could remember was that they had gone out camping in the woods for the first time. It was Haruhi's idea, because she said that it would be fun for them to experience it. Tamaki and Hunny jumped on the chance while Kyoya shrugged; Takashi merely blinked while Hikaru grumbled.

"Camping? I don't understand the appeal of camping…I never have…" he had said, receiving a smack on the head from Tamaki.

"Don't be rude!" the blonde had scolded. "It was Haruhi's turn for a weekend trip, so camping it shall be!"

Then…everything had started out alright…but…people in masks arrived and…

Kaoru wanted to lift his hand and put it to his head because he suddenly felt a headache coming on, but he found that he couldn't. As his senses were coming back, he noticed that he was in a large room with strange, medieval-looking equipment. There were masks hanging from the walls and devices along the walls that made him confused.

The next thing Kaoru noticed was that he was sitting straight up on a short yet thick plank of wood. There was another plank of wood keeping him sitting straight; his hands were tied behind him around the wood. His knees were tied tightly together. There was no way he could move his head properly because a chain was tied to the plank behind him as well; if he moved forward even a centimeter, it pressed against his adam's apple, making it hard to breathe.

The final thing that Kaoru noticed when all of his senses came back, was that his face was covered in something. Though, what, he had no idea. It felt like a mask, but it was mainly covering his mouth.

Kaoru tried to move but it was so difficult. What kind of game was this?

There was a loud creak as the door in front of him opened. Kaoru was highly disappointed when he saw it was not Hikaru, Tamaki, or any of the others. Then again, what was he expecting?

Instead of the sweet faces of his friends, he saw a rather tall gentleman walk in. He wore a long, white lab coat with black buttons along the side. There was no way Kaoru could see the identity of the man either, considering he had a mask on. Covering his face was an old-fashioned plague doctor mask.

The man walked forward slowly, his rather nice shoes clapping on the floor. Kaoru could feel more fear rising within himself after the "doctor" walked closer to him in the slow pace. Soon, his shadow was on him; the long beak of the plague doctor mask loomed over him.

The man bent down and got eye-level with Kaoru. His face was as close as it could possibly be to Kaoru's. The tip of the beak almost touched Kaoru's nose.

Kaoru was too afraid to speak. He was too afraid to ask who he was. He was too terrified to ask what this man wanted from him. So he sat silently, his hazel, sparkling eyes wide in fear.

The man in the mask said nothing as he reached forward with his long arms and touched Kaoru's face with surprisingly gentle fingers; covering them were rubber surgeon's gloves.

Kaoru began breathing heavily at the man's touch. As he kept touching all over his face, examining him, Kaoru felt more fear than he ever had in his entire life.

Suddenly the man backed away and turned around. He walked slowly over to a table that held multiple different objects.

Kaoru, though extremely terrified, took this moment to finally speak.

"Wh-"

Kaoru had barely gotten a sound out when he let out a startled and pained sound, causing the man in the lab coat to turn around.

Kaoru squeezed his eyes shut. The pain he felt on his tongue for merely trying to speak shocked him. Blood dripped down his chin through the bottom of the iron mask. What the hell just happened?

"Ah, ah," the man said as he waggled his finger at him. "You see, the mask you have on is called a Scold's Bridle."

Kaoru listened as a tear slipped down his cheek. He was so confused. The man continued talking anyway in a calm manner as though he were merely talking to someone about the weather.

"It is one of my favorite contraptions from the medieval times, really. There is a metal bridle-bit about two inches long attached to the mask and protruding into your mouth. Along the bridle-bit are spikes. Therefore, if you even try to speak, the spikes will nip at your tongue in the most unpleasant way. So try and not do that."

Kaoru could almost hear the smile behind the mask.

What was this nightmare?

…

**If anyone is interested in what the Scold's Bridle really looks like, here is a picture: **


	2. 1: Scald

**Thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews!**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter One: Scald  
**

_Five hours prior_

Tamaki held up two, skinny, metal bars and stared at them quizzically. He sat cross-legged on the grass. He then looked to the left at the pile of other bars and what appeared to be a large sheet of green plastic.

The blonde looked back at the bars in his hand, his blue eyes showing obvious puzzlement.

"Having trouble?" A voice behind him made him jump and drop the bars on the grass.

"Kyoya, how many times have I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that?!" Tamaki shouted dramatically.

Kyoya laughed and pushed up his glasses, causing them to gleam in the sunlight that was barely passing through the tree branches above them.

"So sorry," he replied in his regular cool voice. "How about you let Takashi take care of the tents?"

Upon hearing his name, Takashi looked up from where he was stacking wood.

"Who died and made you queen?" Hikaru said as he held his cell phone high in the air. "Hey, Haruhi? Are you aware I am only getting a single bar of signal out here?"

Haruhi glanced at him as she set up lawn chairs around a stack of logs that would soon be made into a fire.

"Hikaru, are you aware that this is _camping?_" Haruhi said with no sense of guilt.

The older twin sighed and tapped the phone against his forehead in aggravation. Kaoru giggled at him as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it won't be that bad," he reassured his brother. "I actually have always been a little curious about this whole camping thing. It could be fun, y'know."

"Yeah, as long as I don't _get bitten by anymore damn mosquitoes,"_ Hikaru said angrily as he slapped yet another one of the bugs off of his arm.

"You should have said something sooner," Kyoya said from beside Takashi, who was silently setting up the tents with ease. Hunny sat and watched him as he ate cupcakes out of a box that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

The twins turned to Kyoya and saw him reach into a rather large book bag. He tossed a spray bottle to them.

Hikaru caught it and read the label, then narrowed his eyes at him.

"Why didn't you tell me you had bug spray?"

"I have bug spray too," Haruhi said, holding up her own bottle.

"Does _everyone _have bug spray? I didn't get the memo that we were supposed to bring it," Hikaru said.

"Well, if you thought about it a little harder, you would have realized we were going to be in the wilderness for a few days surrounded by bugs," Haruhi said as she sprayed herself. "We didn't think we had to let you know. Hey, Tamaki, can you spray the back of my neck?"

Tamaki appeared beside Haruhi in an instant.

"OF COURSE, HARUHI!"

"Hikaru can you please spray me? I never seem to get it everywhere," Kaoru asked.

"You need spray too, Mitsukuni," Takashi said seriously, and Hunny nodded.

"Hey, sorry to ask another favor, but can you start a fire, Takashi?" Haruhi asked as she lifted up her short hair from her neck for Tamaki to spray.

"Yeah," Takashi answered as he sprayed Hunny's legs with the bug spray.

Kaoru smiled at his brother when he was finished being coated with the strong spray. Hikaru smiled back, of course.

Despite his aggravation at the whole camping thing, Hikaru was glad to be on a vacation with his friends. They had all had their own troubles since graduation, and they needed this time away from the rest of the world; where it was just them, and only them.

**…**

Hikaru jolted out of his sleep, his eyes shooting open. It was strange, the day before he had opened his eyes to see the inside of the green tent he shared with Kyoya and Kaoru. Now, he awoke to see…what?

Hikaru groaned as he sat up and held his head. He looked around to see Haruhi lying beside him with her eyes closed. Where was everyone else? What happened?

Then it hit him. He remembered everything.

Strangers in masks, screaming, chasing, and fear. There was one crucial piece of his memory that made his blood run cold and his heart stop beating.

He had been with Kaoru when he blacked out. Where was Kaoru now?

Hikaru stood up immediately.

"KAORU?!" Hikaru shouted, looking around. "KAORU?!"

It was dark. He must have only been out for a couple of hours, or a whole day. He wasn't sure. All he cared about at that moment was finding his brother.

There was a soft groan beside him and he whipped his head around to see Haruhi sit up, holding her head.

"Hikaru? What are you yelling about? What happened?" Haruhi looked around with tired eyes. "Where are we?"

Suddenly her eyes opened wider and she looked at him with visible fear as she remembered. Hikaru shared her same feeling, though his expression was grim.

"HIKARU?!" A voice called from somewhere in the woods.

Both Haruhi and Hikaru's heads turned in the direction of the voice.

"HIKARU? IS THAT YOU?"

"TAMAKI!" Haruhi stood up and ran toward the voice.

"Haruhi, wait!" Hikaru shouted after her, holding up his hand. When she did not listen he cursed under his breath and ran after her. Kaoru had to be with Tamaki and the others.

He had to be.

Haruhi ran for about a minute before running smack into the brick wall that was Takashi. She almost fell backward, but he caught her.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki ran up behind Takashi and hugged the brunette, hard. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I-I'm fine. I think…" Haruhi was about to ask where the others were until she saw Hunny on Takashi's shoulders and Kyoya appear behind Tamaki.

"Where is-" Hunny started to ask before Hikaru stumbled into view behind Haruhi.

"Damn thorn bushes," Hikaru grumbled as he picked a thorn out of his jacket sleeve.

"Where's Kaoru?" Tamaki asked.

"H-he's not with you?" Hikaru asked, fear spreading even further into his chest.

"No," Kyoya answered. "We thought he was with you."

"Hikaru!"

Kaoru's voice could barely be heard calling out, and Hikaru immediately took off running. The others behind him were calling out his name, but he was not listening. He had to get to Kaoru; he sounded afraid.

Hikaru ran as fast as he could before coming to the clearing of the campsite. Only then did he slow down.

There was still a small fire burning. The chairs they had been sitting in were knocked over. Other than that, it looked like a normal camp site.

"Hikaru!" the voice was heard again, and he spun around, trying to pinpoint the location.

"Hikaru!"

"Kaoru! Kaoru!" Hikaru traipsed around the campground, trying to find his brother.

He ran into their tent, which was unzipped. It was then that he heard his brother's voice again, but it was odd.

Kaoru's voice was coming from his sleeping bag.

"Stop! Not Hikaru, no!"

Hikaru was so extremely confused. He reached into the sleeping back and pulled out a tape recorder. The wheels inside were spinning as Kaoru's voice continued ringing out.

"Stop! Not Hikaru, no! Hikaru!"

Suddenly the recording cut off and Hikaru was left in the silence until the tape started up again. Hikaru sat and listened to his brother's pleading voice once more, not realizing that the others were behind him listening as well.

It was only when he felt a hand on his shoulder did he jump up and raise the device as a weapon at the person behind him. Tamaki held up his hands in a surrendering way, though his expression held understanding.

"Kaoru's…not here?" Hunny asked, confused.

Hikaru's face shadowed over as his head dropped. The recorder was still raised when he pressed the "stop" button.

"Is this…someone's sick idea of a joke?" Hikaru said in an angry and shaky voice as he dropped the device.

"Hikaru…" Tamaki began, but Hikaru's anger interrupted him.

"Whatever joke this is, it isn't funny!" Hikaru shouted as he gripped the front of Tamaki's shirt.

Tamaki grabbed his friend's hands at an attempt to calm him down. He knew he was only acting like this out of fear and worry; he knew that the older twin did not want to take his anger out of his friends, but he was a bit delusional at the moment due to heavy emotions. Haruhi tried to grab Hikaru's shoulders to pull him off of Tamaki, but she then pulled her hand back at the broken voice that erupted from her friend.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY BROTHER?! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! WHERE THE FUCK IS KAORU?!" he yelled into Tamaki's chest.

For once, Tamaki had no words to say. For once, Kyoya did not have any wise knowledge to give. Haruhi did not even get mad at Hikaru for his temper, nor did Hunny try and make him feel better with a piece of cake. Takashi, whose face as usually expressionless, held an expression of worry and concern.

They just watched as he began sobbing into Tamaki's chest.

Tamaki placed a hand on the older twin's head as a way to comfort. There was a shadow over his eyes before he looked up at the others.

The others looked at him with fear as well as the same determination that lit up their "boss'" eyes.

They had to find Kaoru, no matter what.

**…**

Kaoru let out another loud, pained noise behind the Scold's Bridle as another cinderblock was dropped onto the wood that was pressed against his shins. Two more masked people had come into the room, except they wore black executioner hoods; the long masks only had two slits for the eyes.

Anymore weights dropped onto his shins and Kaoru was sure the bones would break or at least crack. If not, then the bruising would still be horrific.

Thankfully, the "doctor" ordered them to remove the cinderblocks from his legs as well as the plank of wood. As the executioners did this, the doctor began removing the Scold's Bridle from Kaoru's head.

Before removing it completely, he brought his long leg over Kaoru, nearly straddling him. Once again, the beak of the mask was almost touching Kaoru's nose. The man slowly removed the mask while also using his gentle touch to open Kaoru's mouth. Kaoru watched as the spiked piece was pulled out of his mouth. It was covered in blood; the same blood that had also dripped down Kaoru's chin and dried.

The man handed the bridle to one of the executioners. He then brought his hands forward and felt Kaoru's face once more.

"Aren't you a beauty?" he said in a gentle voice.

Kaoru breathed deeply and mustered up the courage he had to finally speak.

"Let me go," he said in a raw voice.

The man simply shook his head. The executioners removed the ropes that had bound Kaoru down, and he immediately reached up and shoved the man off of him and onto the ground. He let out a grunt as he fell to the cold, hard floor.

Kaoru leaped up and cried out as his bruised legs impacted on the floor, but let adrenaline take over as he ran to the door. Just as he tried to open it, one of the executioners grabbed him and held his arms down.

"Let me go, you bastards!" Kaoru shouted, kicking out at them.

"My, my," the doctor said, standing up from the floor and brushing off his coat. "And I thought you were the sweet one, but you seem to have some feistiness in you."

"Shut up and let me go!" Kaoru spat at him.

"I can't do that," he replied cooly. "You see…it was either you or your brother, Hikaru. You don't want me to let you go. Then I would have to grab Hikaru instead."

Kaoru's eyes widened, first at how the man knew their names, then at the mention of grabbing his brother.

"NO! Not Hikaru, please!"

The doctor chuckled lightly as he walked over to what appeared to be a stove and picked up a pot that had been bubbling over.

"No Hikaru, eh?" the doctor asked sweetly. "You know, I liked you better when you weren't shouting and yelling. This is why I picked you. You were the sweet one."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kaoru spat at him. "You don't know me!"

"Oh…but I do," the doctor replied as he got closer, holding the steaming pot. "Why else would I choose you? I have begun to wonder if I should have chosen the feistier one. Hikaru would also be a good test subject. Do you want me to go grab Hikaru instead? I would just love to watch him squirm just as much as I enjoy watching you."

"NO!" Kaoru screamed.

The doctor chuckled again as he placed the put on the floor.

"Fine, but you will have to prove it. You have to prove to me that you will be a good little subject so I won't grab Hikaru instead," the doctor said as he lifted the lid from the pot. "Now, are you going to be a good little subject, or not?"

Kaoru glared at the man in the mask and closed his eyes before nodding.

"Good boy," the doctor said calmly.

Then, in a split second had Kaoru's arm in his tight grip.

"Get ready to _prove _to me so I won't grab Hikaru," the man said with sudden malice.

With that, the man plunged Kaoru's arm into the pot as far as it would go and white, hot pain shot up his arm.

Kaoru screamed as his flesh burned and blistered within the steaming contents that were still bubbling with heat. He had burned himself before, but this was twenty times worse, if not more.

"You know, I really think Hikaru would be a good replacement subject, don't you? In fact, I should go get him right now," the doctor said, removing Kaoru's arm.

"NO! NO!" Kaoru screamed as tears fell from his eyes.

The doctor removed his arm from the pot and said, "I'm sorry? I didn't quite hear that. You!"

The doctor shouted at one of the executioner's as he pointed at him.

"Go get Hikaru! This one won't cooperate."

"NO! NOT HIKARU, NO!" Kaoru shouted.

He could not bear the thought of his brother going through this torment. No, he would take this torture over Hikaru's torture any day. Hikaru had always been the one protecting him, now it was his turn to protect his older brother.

The doctor looked held up his hand to stop the one executioner from leaving the room. The executioner stopped immediately.

"Good boy," the doctor said soothingly as he pet Kaoru's head.

The man slowly removed his hand from Kaoru's soft hair and grabbed his arm, plunging in into the boiling water again.

**…**


	3. 2: Bleach and Blood

**So I got a review from an anonymous: "**stories depicting torture, especially of a minor, is against ffnet's TOS. your story has been reported. whether or not it gets removed i can't say but you should know that this is pretty sick. but maybe that's what you enjoy? i feel sorry for you."

**LOL. If a little more reading had been done (or better reading) he/she would have realized that none of these guys are minors anymore in my story, considering that they have graduated high school. Also, there are other torture stories in this fandom and on this site; I am clearly not the only one. Tsk, tsk, tsk…**

**Anyway, thanks again for the reviews!**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 2: Bleach and Blood  
**

Kaoru was kneeling on the cold floor with his hands above his head. His wrists were bound together by barbed wire, which had already opened a couple of the blisters on his arm from the boiling water treatment. The barbed wire was looped in with handcuffs, locking his wrists in place to where they were hooked to a leash. The way he was being held up was humiliating in itself; one of the executioners held the leash so that Kaoru could not get away, and whenever Kaoru tried to lower his arms, he would yank hard on the leash. He had already tried doing so once, and the executioner tugged on the leash, causing the barbed wire to poke unpleasantly into his wrists, enough to draw blood.

The doctor held a long whip in his hand. His head was tilted as he observed Kaoru's reactions to his new treatment.

There were multiple whip lines already bleeding and raw on Kaoru's back. He raised the whip again and brought the sharp, flexible tool down onto his victim's back once again, breaking even more skin.

Kaoru let out a loud, painful yelp behind the gag in his mouth. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut as though that would help to numb the pain.

There was then the loud snap of the whip, and Kaoru visibly cringed and made a small noise of pain and fear. However, this whip crack brought no pain to him.

Kaoru opened his eyes a tad bit, only to close them again as he winced upon hearing another crack of the whip.

The bastard was toying with him at this point.

The doctor watched as Kaoru would flinch every time he cracked the whip, despite it not touching him. He found a bit of humor out of his reaction to a mere noise. Perhaps there were other things he could do to affect him in such a way without even having to touch him. It would just take a little more time.

Kaoru listened as the man dropped the whip on the floor and walked to the other side of the room. He did not open his eyes, for a reason he was not even sure. Perhaps if his eyes stayed closed he would end up waking from this nightmare, because it was still hard to believe it was truly happening.

Hikaru's face came into Kaoru's mind, and knowing that he was safe brought him comfort. If it was Hikaru who was taken from him, he would have gone out of his mind with despair, worry, and multiple other emotions. Kaoru knew better, however, than to believe that Hikaru was not acting the same way at that moment.

While he knew his brother was safe, he could not say the same for the others. The man in the plague mask had not said anything about Tamaki, Haruhi, Takashi, Hunny, or Kyoya. Kaoru desperately hoped that they were alright as well.

The doctor approached Kaoru once again. He was holding a white bottle with a blue lid.

Kaoru heard steps coming around to his front and opened his eyes to see the plague doctor mask staring right back at him. He shook the bottle so that Kaoru could hear the liquid inside before twisting off the lid and putting it up to Kaoru's face. He immediately shied away from the bottle as though it would attack him on its own, but he also caught a whiff of a familiar smell.

Bleach was in the bottle, but what was the point of it? Would bleach not disinfect the wounds on his back? There was no way the doctor was going to inflict these wounds and then treat them, right?

The doctor placed a hand on Kaoru's head gently once he stood up again. Kaoru flinched as he was touched by the awful man, despite how gentle the touch was.

The executioner held onto Kaoru's leash tighter as the doctor glanced at him. Then, without any further warning, he poured the bleach onto the open wounds covering Kaoru's back.

Kaoru's eyes shot open as he felt pain that was even worse than, or equal to, how he felt when his arm was put into the boiling hot water; but this pain was different. It stung and burned at the same time. It felt like how hydrogen peroxide would feel on his wounds, only worse.

The doctor ignored Kaoru's slightly muffled screams of pain from behind the gag. Once the burning and stinging finally subsided to a dull ache, and Kaoru's screaming died down to whimpering, he pulled his shirt back down onto his back; the wetness of the bleach and blood soaked through the cloth.

Kaoru's struggling from the bleach punishment caused his wrists to bleed more from the barbed wire. There was no telling what was going to happen to him next. As Kaoru began imagining his brother's face again for comfort, he felt another crack of the whip, however, it was on the bottom of his bare feet rather than his back.

**…**

"Kaoru! Kaoru!"

The voices of the old host club were calling out their friend's name as loud as they could. Every time the name left their mouth, they hoped for him to call back to them, or at least receive some type of signal from him. Every time they called his name, however, there was never a response.

"KAORU!" Hikaru cried out desperately.

The older twin's voice was getting raw from yelling so much and so loud, but he did not care. The sore feeling in his throat was the least of his worries. He just wanted to find his brother.

"KAORU!" Hikaru called out again, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"KAORU!" Tamaki called out in another direction, a little ways away from the others.

They had all decided to travel together to search for Kaoru. Kyoya pointed out that it would be unsafe for anyone to separate from the group. Hikaru had argued at first, but then realized that he was right, though he did not admit it aloud.

"It's getting dark," Kyoya said as he walked up beside Tamaki. "We should head back to camp."

"But-" Tamaki started.

"It will be unsafe to travel in the woods at night. Plus, we need our rest if we are to continue looking for Kaoru," Kyoya interrupted.

Tamaki opened his mouth to argue again, but closed it as he realized that Kyoya was right. The last thing they needed was for someone else to go missing or get hurt. They could continue their search early in the morning once everyone had gotten rest.

Kyoya knew he had gotten through to Tamaki, but he noted the expression on his face. In the past, Kyoya was not much for comforting people, even his friends. However, as the years went on and they had graduated from high school, he had changed; they all had in some way.

"We will find him, but we need to rest if we are going to do that," Kyoya said in a monotone voice.

Tamaki knew this was Kyoya's version of comfort, and he was appreciative of it, but the worry for Kaoru still lingered.

"Our little Kaoru is out there somewhere, Kyoya…maybe even hurt," Tamaki said in a low voice.

Kyoya just stared at Tamaki for a moment before he heard someone come up next to him. Turning his head, he saw Takashi.

"Where is Hunny?" Kyoya asked and Takashi turned his head to the left.

Kyoya saw that Hunny was calling out for Kaoru in another direction, though still in sight of the others.

"Heard you say something about heading back," Takashi stated in his usual deep voice.

Kyoya nodded while Tamaki looked up at his taller friend.

"Yes, Kyoya made the point that we need rest in order to keep looking for Kaoru," the blonde repeated.

Takashi did not respond. He stood silently for a moment before turning his head and calling to Hunny,

Hunny walked over, catching the noticed of Haruhi, who also began walking over to the group.

"We need to head back to camp," Kyoya said when they arrived. "It is getting dark."

"We have flashlights," Haruhi stated.

"It will be unsafe. We don't need anyone else going missing, or getting hurt."

"We won't-" Haruhi started, but Kyoya interrupted.

"We will continue looking in the morning, but we need rest."

Haruhi looked as though she was going to retort, but Hunny said, "Kao-chan is still out there."

Kyoya just stared at his short friend, unsure of how to respond. Kyoya knew he, himself, was right; but he also knew that Kaoru needed to be found.

"What if he is hurt, or scared, or-" Honey continued in a low voice, sounding as though he were about to cry.

"Mitsukuni," Takashi interrupted.

Hunny looked up at his cousin with tears in the corner of his eyes.

"We all want to find him, but we also need to be well-rested if we are going to find him," Takashi stated.

"Maybe you're right," Haruhi said, though she did not like the thought of stopping their search either. "You have forgotten something, though."

Tamaki, Kyoya, Takashi, and Hunny all looked at her in puzzlement.

Haruhi pointed over to where Hikaru was still calling out Kaoru's name. He had not even noticed that the others had gathered and were talking rather than calling out his brother's name.

"Have you even thought about how Hikaru will react?" Haruhi said, her eyebrows furrowed. "He isn't going to just go back to the camp sight and rest. He is going to keep looking for Kaoru until he collapses."

They all lowered their heads at Haruhi's words. What she said was the truth. There was no way Hikaru was going to go back to camp willingly.

"I'll help him then," Tamaki said in a soft voice.

"What? Tamaki-" Haruhi started.

"I will stay with Hikaru while you all go back to camp to get some rest," Tamaki repeated with more determination.

"Well if you are staying out here then we all will, Tama-chan," Hunny said, his hands going into little fists.

"No, Hunny," Tamaki said, causing Hunny's fists to lower. "If you guys really want to, we can all take turns. Hikaru will run out of steam eventually, and at least some of us need to have enough stamina to keep looking."

Hunny could not argue with his boss, nor could the others. They all nodded and made noises of agreement.

Tamaki looked over at Hikaru, who called out his brother's name once again.

"Besides…we will find our little Kaoru by then," Tamaki said with a small smile. "He will be reunited with us in no time!"

**…**


	4. 3: Arrowhead

**Thanks again for the wondrous reviews, follows, and faves! You all are great.**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 3: Arrowhead**

His bright hazel eyes opened slowly. Where was he? Why was he in pain?

Then he remembered.

Kaoru remembered the kidnapping, the masks, and the torture. Everything. It almost felt the same waking up this time as the first time. The only difference was, he could immediately piece together where he was.

Kaoru's arms were bound by something, though he was not sure what as of yet. All he knew in his blurry mind was that he could not move them. He could move his legs and feet, but only a bit. His mouth was free, however. He no longer had a gag or anything keeping him from talking.

"Ah, I see you are awake," a familiar, calm voice spoke from off to the side.

Kaoru turned his head to see the long-beaked masked figure fiddling with different objects on a table.

"I hope you had a nice, induced sleep, because we have a long and busy day ahead of us."

That's right. He had been given a sedative, which put him to sleep.

Kaoru could hear the doctor's smile, though he could not see it.

"Why don't you stop being a coward and show your face?" Kaoru spat.

A chuckle came from the man as he continued shuffling around with his equipment on the other side of the room.

"In due time, my boy. In due time," he replied.

Kaoru glared at the man and was about to retort until the door on the other side of the room opened and one of the executioners entered.

"Ah, you're back," the doctor said. "Any word?"

"They have not come close to us," the executioner replied in a deep voice.

It was the first time Kaoru had heard one of the executioner's make any kind of noise, let alone speak. That was not his main focus, however; instead, he was curious as to who "they" were.

"Good," the doctor replied. "And I trust that none of them have tried to leave the area?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Perfect."

It was then that Kaoru realized, they were talking about Tamaki, Hikaru, and the others. That meant they were safe. That also meant that they must be searching for him, but had not even come close to where he was being kept. That made Kaoru's heart sink, but at the same time, he was glad that they were out of harm's way.

"Are you ready to help me, then?" the doctor asked as he walked over to Kaoru.

The executioner nodded and walked over to him as well.

"Surely, you have noticed that you cannot move your arms, Kaoru," the doctor said.

Kaoru only glared at the man in the mask, but did not say a word. He had noticed what it was that was keeping him restrained by now. It was a strait jacket. His arms were crossed over his chest and bound to his sides. His feet were strapped down.

Kaoru had also noticed that he was no longer on the plank of wood he had woken up on however many hours before; the doctor had referred to it as a Tiger Bench, which was supposedly a Chinese torture technique. The doctor had told him this after his whipping and bleach punishment; in which, afterward, he had decided to perform another cinderblock treatment on his already bruised legs.

Now, instead of the Tiger Bench, he was on an old, rickety hospital bed. His head rested on a flat pillow.

Before he could even attempt to keep his mouth shut, it was pried open and a bit gag was situated around his head and inside his mouth, preventing him from speaking. The gag tasted of leather, but that was the last thing on Kaoru's mind as he heard the doctor's next words.

"We are going to try something really fun today," the doctor said as he held up what appeared to be a large pair of tongs with cloth tips.

The doctor placed the tongs against the sides of Kaoru's head. Kaoru hated how weak he seemed in the doctor's presence; he did not want to appear afraid, but he could not help the whimper that came from his mouth.

"This is what you would call an ECT," the doctor began explaining. "Also known as, Electroconvulsive Therapy. It has been used for decades. Of course, the patients tend to be put under anesthesia. However, we will have none of that here."

Kaoru began breathing heavier as he saw the executioner charge up a box-like device out of the corner of his eye. It began to make an electrical whirring noise, causing Kaoru to panic even more.

"This procedure will send an electric current through your brain, inducing a seizure," the doctor continued explaining. "Now, don't worry. I have done this multiple times."

Kaoru began shaking his head, he felt tears forming in his eyes. He whimpered as the executioner went over to the device and put his fingers on a switch.

The doctor held the tongs on Kaoru's head.

"Oh, sh sh sh," the doctor soothed mockingly.

He then looked to the executioner, and nodded.

Kaoru continued to shake his head and whimper, tears flowing out of his eyes at this point.

The executioner paid no mind to Kaoru's persistent sounds of fear. He flipped the switch and a louder whirr of electrocution could be heard as it traveled to Kaoru's head.

Kaoru immediately began convulsing, his eyes wide. Noises emerged from his throat that would have made any normal person's heart break or at least tremble. However, the doctor merely watched until he nodded at the executioner to stop the electricity.

The red-head stopped convulsing and his eyes glazed over. He was breathing heavily behind the gag in his mouth. He was so tired and groggy.

The doctor looked into his eyes. He pulled down his bottom eyelid then pulled up on his top eyelid, observing. There were now red burn marks on Kaoru's head where the tongs had been. He slapped Kaoru's cheek at an attempt to make him focus once again. It worked only slightly, so the doctor snapped his fingers at the executioner, who seemed to understand what he wanted.

The doctor kept his hand held out, and soon a sharp scalpel was in his hand. It gleamed in the dim light. He brought the knife up to Kaoru's face and quickly cut him from his nose to his ear.

Kaoru let out a scream. Even though it was muffled by the bit gag, it was still loud.

Blood immediately flowed from the long wound. The scalpel was no longer gleaming its original silver color. Instead it was a shiny red color from Kaoru's blood.

The doctor was pleased that he once again had his patient's attention, or at least somewhat. Kaoru continued to scream as the tongs were placed on his head once again.

"Crank it up a bit higher," the doctor ordered.

Kaoru shook his head again, in an attempt at begging the doctor to stop, but it was futile. The doctor would not listen. The executioner would not listen. Kaoru was just an object. He was merely a little piece in their game.

The whirr of electricity started up again and Kaoru was once again racked with a seizure. His eyes shooting open as the electric current surged through his brain. Drool seeped out of the corners of his mouth as his convulsions continued. The blood continued flowing from the wound on his face and dripped into his hair and onto the bed.

**…**

"Kaoru! Kaoru!" Tamaki yelled into the woods.

Off a little ways away he could hear Hikaru shouting the same name, his voice even more hoarse than before. They had traveled far from the camp, and the morning sun was beginning to come up.

Tamaki looked up at the pink sky gently showing its way through the tree branches. It would be beautiful if the circumstances were different.

As much as he hated to admit it, he could feel exhaustion creeping up on him. At first, he had so much adrenaline. He and Hikaru had been traipsing around the dense woods like wild men trying to find Kaoru, but they had not come any closer to figuring out where he was than hours earlier.

Just as Tamaki was about to let out a sigh of frustration he saw something gleaming on the ground. He tilted his head at it and walked closer. He bent down to examine it and his eyes opened wide.

A necklace.

He picked it up and examined it, brushing some dirt off with his thumb. It was silver and the little charm was in the shape of an arrowhead. There were small flowers along the hilt of the arrowhead. There was no mistaking who it belonged to.

"Kaoru…" Tamaki whispered.

_30 Hours Prior_

"Kaoru, do you need help with that fire wood?" Tamaki asked from behind the small, red-head.

"No thanks, senpai. I got it," Kaoru said with a small smile.

Night had fallen and they had already gone through a few logs of wood. Kaoru had offered to grab more. Tamaki followed him to offer help considering Kaoru was not the most muscular of the bunch. Hikaru was even more muscular than his twin.

Tamaki's eyes caught on the necklace that he wore and he said, "I see you found your necklace?"

Kaoru touched it and said, "Yeah. I guess I thought I had clipped it properly and it fell off into the grass. Hopefully it's clipped well now. I don't want to lose it again."

When Kaoru stood up, one of the logs rolled off of the pile in his arms. He let out a sheepish laugh and said, "Actually, senpai, can you pick that up for me?"

Tamaki let out a small chuckle and said, "Sure thing."

**…**

Tamaki looked at the necklace in his hand for a few more moments until something else caught his eye. What appeared to be dragging marks were indented in the small patches of dirt. They were so faint that anyone else who was not looking for a missing person would miss it. Tamaki, however, knew better.

He clenched the necklace tight in his hand and called over his shoulder to Hikaru.

**…**


	5. 4: Sever

**Okay, this chapter may or may not be more gruesome than the others. I just watched some American Horror Story so I'm feeling quite gory right now. Of course, whether this makes you cringe all depends on how squeamish you are and what makes your squeamish button tick. I figured I should warn you all just in case, because in my opinion it is more gruesome than the other chapters. **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 4: Sever**

Hikaru clutched his brother's necklace in his hand. It was the closest he could come to touching Kaoru himself. They walked where the drag marks led until they faded out.

"Now what?" Hikaru snapped, getting restless over how they lost their trail and his brother was still out there somewhere.

Tamaki said nothing. He was not sure what to say. He was definitely hoping that the trail would lead them to somewhere or something that could at least hint where Kaoru could be. When he looked around, however, there was nothing but woods.

**…**

Kaoru did not care whether he seemed pathetic anymore. He just wanted out. He wanted out of this nightmare he was in. He wanted to escape from the pain he was feeling. He wanted Hikaru.

The doctor had let Kaoru doze off for twenty minutes after his final electric dosage before forcing him awake; it was just long enough for him to quickly and sloppily stitch up the wound on his face.

The doctor could do better, but he only did it well enough so he would stop bleeding so much. He did not want Kaoru to get loopy from blood loss; at least not yet.

Kaoru still had the bit gag in his mouth, and there was already a dent forming in it from clenching it between his teeth so hard. He was once again strapped to the tiger bench with cinderblocks on his shins, bruising them even further and making them feel as though the bones were about to crack.

His arms were strapped onto make-shift arm rests made of planks of wood. They had a cinderblock on each hand. The doctor had been pressing on the cinderblock covering his right hand with varying amounts of force. The more force he applied the more noise Kaoru's hand made. It made cracking and popping sounds as the bones endured the abuse.

Kaoru whined as the doctor leaned even further on the cinderblock, putting even more force. Kaoru cried out, making it difficult to hear the crackling in his hand, but he could definitely feel it.

The doctor then stood up straight and walked around the bench, admiring his captive. He then stopped for moment before turning his head to the executioner. The cloaked figure nodded in response, brought his arm up, and then slammed his elbow onto one of the cinderblocks.

Kaoru let out a loud cry of pain as he felt the bones in his right hand break. The cracking sound was louder than ever before at the bones completely broke in his hand and wrist.

**…**

Hikaru started walking straight again until he stopped. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought. Then, he spun around and began walking a different direction.

Hikaru trudged past Tamaki, who watched him curiously.

"This way," Hikaru said.

"What if it's the wrong way?" the blonde asked.

"It isn't," Hikaru said seriously. "I have a feeling."

Tamaki blinked in confusion before following. It wasn't like he could come up with a better plan.

Little did they know, however, that eyes were watching them from a distance.

**…**

Kaoru awaited with tear-filled eyes as the executioner was about to break his other hand and wrist. Just as the executioner lifted up his arm and began to bring it down, was when the door across the room burst open.

The doctor whipped around and demanded, "What?! Can you not see we are busy?"

"They're close. Two of them," the other cloaked figure replied, slightly out of breath.

"What?" the doctor breathed. "Well, don't just stand there, stop them!"

The second executioner nodded and dashed out of the room. The doctor turned to the executioner that was about to break Kaoru's other hand and shouted at him to go too. He watched the other executioner dash out of the room before whipping his head to Kaoru.

The next thing Kaoru knew, he was being dragged into another room. He cried out in pain as his broken wrist and hand were jostled as he was dragged along the cold, hard floor.

This new room held shackles for his arms and feet. There was only one window, and it was on the ceiling. The doctor attached the shackles quickly to his ankles and wrists before undoing the other restraints on his ankles. He cried out in pain again as the shackles latched around his broken wrist.

"Shut it," the doctor hissed. "If you make one sound I will be sure to punish you worse than you ever thought possible."

The man was about to rush out of the room, but paused. Kaoru eyed him nervously, not liking how the man appeared to be thinking. The masked man then continued on his trek out the room, but was back again within a few seconds. What was in his hands made Kaoru scoot frantically back against the wall.

The doctor took the bit gag out of his mouth, and before Kaoru could even make a sound, the Scold's Bridle was back on his face; the spiked bridle bit in his mouth and threatening to wound his tongue further.

"Just to be sure," the doctor said in a low, taunting voice. "I'll be back soon, my sweet."

**…**

Tamaki stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes going wide.

"Hikaru, wait!" he said in an urgent voice.

Hikaru turned his head back to where Tamaki was standing.

"What? Why have you stopped? We have to keep-"

"Sh!" Tamaki silenced him, putting a finger to his lips. "I heard something."

Hikaru opened his mouth to say something else, but a rustling off to their left cut him off. Then there was a rustling to their right.

"Who's there?!" Hikaru shouted.

When no one came out to face them, he let out an angry growl. He then turned and locked eyes with Tamaki, who had a serious, yet worried expression on his face.

Something was not quite right. They weren't alone.

They stood in silence for another minute before the rustling was once again heard, but following this was a figure in a black hood and cloak leaping out at Hikaru. Before he could react, a crowbar was whacked hard against the older twin's head, knocking him out cold.

"Hikaru!" Tamaki cried, reaching out to his fallen friend.

He had no weapon. He had no way of defending himself but his own hands, and he supposed that was going to have to do. When he needed to be, Tamaki was serious. This was especially the case when any of his friends were hurt or in trouble, and Hikaru was lying knocked out on the ground; he also would bet one thousand dollars that this hooded guy knew where Kaoru was.

The man in the cloak lifted up his weapon and charged at Tamaki, who held up his hands, which had curled into hard fists. The cloaked man was right in front of Tamaki, his bat raised, when a loud 'thunk' was heard and he fell to the ground.

Tamaki, fists still raised, looked at the man lying on the ground at his feet.

"What the-" Tamaki started, but looked up to see Haruhi breathing hard, a large rock held above her head.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki said, a smile lighting his face. "Are you alright? How did you know where we were? Where are the others? You didn't come alone did you? How-"

"Tamaki-senpai!" Haruhi held up her finger to his lips to silence him. "I should be asking _you _if _you_ are alright."

"I-I'm fine," Tamaki said, rubbing the back of his head. "But, uh…"

They both looked down at Hikaru, who was still lying on the ground, face down.

"We need to get him back to the camp," Haruhi said. "Think you could carry him?"

Tamaki nodded, "Of course, but what about him?"

Haruhi followed Tamaki's gaze to where the hooded figure was also lying on the ground, out cold.

The brunette girl let out a sigh of frustration. "I wish we could bring him too. I have this funny feeling that he knows where Kaoru is."

Tamaki opened his mouth to answer until a rustle off to their right caused Haruhi to lift up her rock and Tamaki to lift up his fists. However, who was revealed was not a threat, and the two lowered their hands and stared, mouths falling open.

"_Mori?_" the two said at the same time.

Their tall friend blinked in response.

"Okay, why are you two out here? I'm so confused!" Tamaki held his head, but Haruhi ignored his little hissy fit.

"What are you doing out here, Mori?" she asked.

"Following you," Mori answered simply.

"Me? I-I was following-" Haruhi pointed at Tamaki who was still throwing a tantrum.

"I know," Mori interrupted. "I figured you would want to make sure Tamaki and Hikaru remained safe, so I stayed awake until you left camp and followed."

Haruhi blinked and let out a small noise of surprise and understanding.

"WHAT?" Tamaki had finished his old fit and began a new one. "You came out here all on your own when it was dark?! Haruhi, you could have been hurt or kidnapped. DADDY DOES NOT APPROVE!"

"I wanted to make sure you two were alright," Haruhi said. "I felt bad leaving you two alone like that."

Tamaki was about to vent more, until a soft groan alerted them to their still-injured friend on the ground.

"Let's get back," Mori stated.

Without another word, the tall young man went over to the cloaked figure and lifted him up. Tamaki followed suit and picked up Hikaru.

As they began walking back to the camp, Tamaki continued staring down at his friend in his arms.

"Tamaki-senpai?" Haruhi asked, causing him to meet her eyes. "Are you alright?"

Tamaki looked back down at Hikaru in his arms. He unconsciously clenched Hikaru tighter. He could not allow anymore of his friends to get hurt. He would make sure the man in the cloak told him where Kaoru was and he would save him. Tamaki felt more anger in his chest the more he thought about it.

"Tamaki…" Haruhi questioned again with more concern.

"This son of a bitch is going to tell us where our Kaoru is," Tamaki growled out. "And no one else will get hurt."

Haruhi looked at her friend in astonishment. Never had she heard such anger in her usual childish, happy friend who always seemed to have a smile on his face. She had heard it once when he believed that boys had hurt her during Renge's filming of the host club so long ago. Yet, this time it was different. His anger was much darker and fiercer.

After a moment of staring at Tamaki, her expression soon matched his as she looked at the cloaked figure in Mori's arms.

Yes, they would find Kaoru, and soon.

**…**

"Did you take care of our guests?" the doctor asked as he began cleaning off equipment he had used on Kaoru earlier.

"Yes, but, we have a problem," the executioner said.

"Oh?" the doctor said absently as he cleaned off a scalpel. "And what is that?"

"They got our other person," the executioner responded in his deep, almost inhumane voice.

The doctor stopped cleaning the scalpel and looked up at the hooded man. He took a moment to process the new information before setting down the tool on the table.

"Well, he knows what to do," the doctor replied calmly. "He doesn't say anything about our whereabouts. If he does…he knows what happens."

The executioner nodded in understanding.

"Should we try to get him back?" the executioner asked.

"No," the doctor replied. "No. Why would we do that?"

The executioner did not respond.

"I will need for you to make a delivery for me later today, though," the doctor said as he picked up a small hedge clipper.

**…**

Kaoru jumped as the door to his new room opened with a loud creak. The doctor walked in slowly and bent down in front of him. He removed the Scold's Bridle from his head and placed it on the floor.

Despite no longer having the prevention of speaking, Kaoru did not say anything. He awaited another torture session. He was trying to prepare himself.

"Your brother is a naughty one," the doctor said calmly. "Him, along with…the other one. The blonde."

Kaoru's eyes went wide and he said in a voice that was raw and quiet due to screaming so much, "What did you do to them?"

The doctor did not answer, causing Kaoru to become angry and shout as loud as he possibly could, "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THEM?"

"Nothing," the doctor said. "In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they came by again."

Kaoru was relieved to know that his brother was safe. He also figured the "blonde one" was obviously either Tamaki or Hunny. He let out a sigh of relief.

"However, penalties need to be paid," the doctor said as he lifted up the tool in his hand and ran his gloved fingers along the blade. "I cannot let Hikaru get away with passing into my territory, and since you and him are basically the same…I'll just settle with punishing you."

The doctor snatched Kaoru's uninjured wrist and opened the clippers in his hand.

"I believe a message is in order," the doctor said in a slightly strained voice as Kaoru struggled against his grasp. "A message to your brother, and your little friends."

Kaoru's pinky finger on his left hand was between the clipper's two blades. The doctor then clenched the clippers shut and Kaoru let out a loud scream from his already-sore throat. The doctor had to work through the bone, sawing at it and yanking until it came off between the blades.

"One down," the doctor said over Kaoru's screaming. "About one more should get the point across."

The doctor had Kaoru's ring finger between the clipper's blades and clenched them again.

**…**

**If you guys wouldn't mind telling me by message or review whether this story should be rated M or remain T, I would appreciate it. I feel like sexual stories should remai**


	6. 5: Ripping

**Never fear, I am still here! I was just preoccupied. Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows I have gotten so far! **

**In other news, you might have seen that I changed the rating. I don't think it needs to be changed, but I'm doing it to be safe!**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 5: Ripping  
**

"Hika-chan!" Hunny cried as he saw the twin in Tamaki's arms.

Hunny and Kyoya had emerged from the tent they were sharing upon hearing footsteps. Hunny, despite having karate skills and ability to fight off attackers, was quite frightened that it would be someone besides his friends. When he had woken up to find Mori not next to him, he was scared; Kyoya had immediately informed him of his cousin's departure to follow Haruhi, who had followed Hikaru and Tamaki.

Kyoya had not let Haruhi or Mori know that he was aware of their leaving. He had been sleeping rather lightly already, so when he heard Haruhi leaving the tent, he was awoken. Kyoya had assumed she would be the first to follow Tamaki and Hikaru. Kyoya had almost gotten up to follow her until Mori had taken his place. With Mori following her, Kyoya knew that Haruhi would be safe.

"What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" Hunny asked, sounding upset.

"Who is that?" Kyoya asked, interrupting any answer from Tamaki, who was still clutching Hikaru.

Hunny was still fussing over Hikaru in Tamaki's arms, but Kyoya's attention was on the cloaked figure in Mori's arms. Instead of answering, Mori simply dropped the figure on the ground without any look of remorse on his face.

"Uh, he attacked Tamaki and Hikaru," Haruhi answered, eyeing the heap of cloak covering the person on the ground.

Kyoya bent down as Mori walked over to Tamaki and gently took hold of Hikaru. Tamaki watched him carry their friend into the tent - Hunny following closely behind - before turning to Kyoya, who had bent down to examine the stranger.

"Who do you think it is?" Tamaki asked, and Kyoya mentally scoffed at his friend's ignorance.

"Well the easy solution is to remove the hood, now isn't it?" Kyoya asked smoothly.

Just as he went to remove the hood, however, he was interrupted by someone coming out of the woods. Everyone's heads snapped up to look at yet another stranger in a black cloak.

Tamaki put his hands up in a fighting stance, along with Haruhi, while Kyoya still had his hand gripping the hood of the fallen figure.

"Wait!" the muffled shout came from underneath the hood. "Don't do that, please."

Haruhi furrowed her eyebrows. Who did this guy think he was telling them what to do?

"Where is our friend?" Haruhi demanded. "Where's Kaoru?"

He continued walking forward, ignoring Haruhi.

When he was about five feet away from them, he stopped, but did not say anything.

"I have a delivery for you," he said.

"A-a what?" Tamaki asked, surprised.

He held up a hand that was clutching something.

There was a red liquid that coated his palm and some of his fingers; it made shivers go down their spines.

"Like I said, I have a delivery."

Tamaki slowly walked forward.

Everyone waited with bated breath as Tamaki held out his hands. The man in the black cloak opened his hand and let the "delivery" fall into Tamaki's palms.

Tamaki held the contents in his hand, unsure of what they were at first. He picked up one of the objects with his other hand, the bottom end had a type of sharp shard that poked at his fingertip.

It was only a few seconds of staring before his eyes opened wide and his breath hitched in his throat.

Fingers.

Kaoru's fingers.

Haruhi and Kyoya had all realized what this meant and their eyes grew wide. Everyone seemed at a loss for words until Tamaki said darkly, "Where is he?"

The cloaked guest said nothing.

Tamaki lifted his head sharply, glaring with ferocity, "Where is our Kaoru?! What did you do with him?!"

Without getting a response yet again, Tamaki charged forward and gripped the cloak in his fists.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?" the blonde shouted once more.

"Wait, Tamaki!" Kyoya said.

"Wait?! What do you mean wait? He knows-" Tamaki began, but Kyoya continued talking.

"You know where Kaoru is. You also don't seem to want me to take off your friend's hood," Kyoya said calmly, staring right at the one in Tamaki's grasp. "However, if you don't tell me where Kaoru is…"

Kyoya's words trailed off, and he allowed them to sink in. The man in the executioner cloak appeared to be thinking about Kyoya's words. His eyes shifted to Kyoya's hand still gripping the black fabric.

"I…I can't," he finally said. "Tell him I said I'm sorry."

With that, he turned around and began walking away. Tamaki was about to run after him, but the man held up a gun and whipped around. Tamaki stopped dead in his tracks and cursed under his breath. He would be no use to Kaoru dead or wounded.

The gun-holder did not say a word. He continued aiming the gun at Tamaki for a few more moments before turning back around and continuing his trek out of their camp.

There was a minute of silence, which was broken by Mori and Hunny coming out of the tent.

"He is still out of it," Hunny said.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Hunny," Haruhi said, though her voice shook. "Right now, we have a more pressing matter."

Hunny's face fell and he looked concerned.

"Haru-chan, what's wrong?" he asked as he hopped over to her. "Don't be sad, we'll find Kao-chan!"

Haruhi just stared at the fingers on the ground until she felt a hand on her own. Looking down at her side, she saw it was Hunny smiling up at her the best he could. She smiled back, but only a little; if a smile would make Hunny feel any better, she was willing to do it, even if she did not feel it herself.

Mori walked over to where Haruhi had been looking and bent down to see the dead ligaments in the grass. His rarely-changed features became harder; his eyebrows furrowed together and his fist clenched.

"Takashi?" Hunny questioned, his hand still in Haruhi's.

Mori said nothing. He instead picked up the fingers, stood up, and walked over to the tree line. He chucked them as far as he could.

When he returned, the others were staring at him.

"Good idea, Takashi," Kyoya said. "We wouldn't want Hikaru seeing that."

"Seeing what?" Hunny asked innocently.

"Nothing, Mitsukuni," Mori replied.

Kyoya turned back to their guest on the ground and said, "I think it's time for some answers."

Everyone immediately brought their attention to the man on the ground and crowded around him.

Kyoya looked up at his friends, then back down at the masked face and started to pull off the hood.

His eyebrows furrowed and Tamaki said, "Kyoya? Why aren't you taking it off? Do you want me to-"

"No," Kyoya said. "It-it won't come off."

Everyone made sounds of confusion as Kyoya tried again.

The black fabric looked like it was getting caught on something inside.

Kyoya examined the mask closer and saw black stitching along the pitch black fabric. His eyebrows furrowed even deeper than before. Being the intelligent being that he was, he was silently piecing the puzzle together. When the answer came to him, his grip on the hood tightened.

"Kyoya senpai? Are you okay?" Haruhi asked.

Kyoya closed his eyes and said, "I now know why he did not want me to remove the hood."

Everyone blinked at him, not sure how he could have figured it out.

Kyoya opened his eyes again, but continued looking down at the covered face.

"I would advise anyone who doesn't want to be in the presence of any type of blood not watch," Kyoya said in a monotone voice.

"What?!" Tamaki cried. "Kyoya what are you talking about?!"

There was a soft groan from the figure on the ground and Kyoya said more seriously, "He's waking up. I need to do this now."

Mori covered Hunny's eyes. He was not sure what Kyoya was going on about, but he took his warning seriously and did not want Hunny seeing anything gruesome.

Kyoya said in a gruff voice, "Ready?"

His friends assumed it was more preparation for himself than any of them, but they nodded anyway.

Kyoya pulled up on the fabric as hard as he possibly could, and the man let out a blood curdling scream.

Tamaki put a hand to his mouth, Haruhi screamed, and Hunny whimpered, despite still not being able to see.

The hood had been sewn to the skin on the man's face, giving the reason why it was so hard to take off. The stitches had lined all around his face, except for his chin. There were visible marks where the stitching was – the crisscross of bloody lines – while other parts had suffered worse injury with the skin tearing further into the center of his face.

Kyoya grimaced, but only for a moment, because he still had to rip the rest off of the man's face; the remaining fabric was still on the top part of his face.

With one more hard tug, Kyoya ripped the rest of the dark hood off of the man's head, causing another loud scream. The sound of tearing flesh could be heard underneath the man's screaming; it was such a specific sound, and Kyoya knew he would never forget it.

Kyoya swallowed hard as he saw the black fabric in his hand. There was skin stapled onto the fabric from where it used to be attached to his face. Some of the pieces were bigger strips of flesh and hung like bloody streamers.

Kyoya tossed the gruesome fabric to the side into the grass and looked down at what he had done. The man's face was bleeding even more now, with more pieces of skin missing. His eyes were wide open and he was screaming still, though it was quickly dying down to loud whimpers.

Tamaki had gone pale, his hands still to his mouth. Haruhi had turned her head away, but kept glancing back. Mori stood, stunned; his eyes were wide.

"Wh-what's going on?" Hunny asked, his lip quivering.

In response, Mori pulled Hunny closer to him, still keeping his hand over his eyes.

Kyoya could finally stand it no longer. He quickly turned away from the gruesome sight of the man on the ground; he turned away from his friends; he turned away from what he had done.

The usually, calm and collected young man collapsed on one knee in the grass a little ways away and began puking his guts out.

What the fuck kind of game was this?

…


	7. 6: Just A Needle and Thread

**Wowza. Sorry for that long wait you guys. I had Spring Break, then getting back to school (a lot of driving), and I sat down to write a really great chapter. I was completely finished, I shifted my laptop and it shut off (because something is wrong with it). I was like, "Oh no big deal it auto-saves." Well, guess what? I did not auto-save and I am STILL in a bad mood about it even though this was a few weeks ago.**

**Anyway…you know the drill. If it is disturbing to you…sorry. I warned ya.**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 6: Just a Needle and Thread**

Haruhi stared into the fire that Mori had started a few minutes ago. She watched as the flames licked at the dry wood. She paid no mind to Tamaki as he sat, staring into the woods away from the fire. She had no attention on Hunny as he talked to Mori about something unknown to her; she wondered whether Mori even knew what Hunny was saying or if his mind was too preoccupied like the rest of theirs.

Bright orange coals were beginning to glow underneath the wood. Pops and crackles were softly erupted, which calmed Haruhi in a strange way.

Hikaru stumbled out of the tent, holding his head as he felt a headache coming on. What had hit him anyway?

He looked around and saw Tamaki, Mori, Hunny, and Haruhi sitting around a fire. Tamaki and Mori appeared lost in thought while Hunny babbled about something. Haruhi was peeling tops off of soup cans.

It was not until he caught sight of the man in the black cloak lying on the ground that his headache went completely forgotten.

He began walking forward, his hand absent mindedly going into the pocket of his shorts. What he pulled out glinted in the sunlight.

…

Kaoru's eyes felt heavy as he blinked slowly. He blearily looked up into the face of the plague doctor mask. He did not even have the energy to mutter a word, scream, shout, speak, or think for that matter. He just wanted out of this mad man's possession, that was all he knew; that was all he could think about.

The doctor held up a needle and a thick piece of black thread; it looked like a type of acrylic fabric. Whatever type of fabric it was did not concern Kaoru nearly as much as the fact of where it was going.

Compared to the other torture and severe pain he had endured, Kaoru merely flinched as the needle poked into the skin above his lips. He hardly flinched at all when the thread made its way through his skin.

The doctor weaved it through the skin above his top lip then followed suit with the bottom. Soon enough, Kaoru's mouth was completely sewn shut.

"Perfect," the doctor breathed out.

Kaoru did not know whether he preferred this or the scold's bridel. He just knew that he wanted out.

The next few minutes consisted of the doctor melting hot wax all along Kaoru's arms, which were strapped down to the rickety hospital bed he was in when electro shock therapy was done on him. Perhaps he would have at least a little more energy if the doctor and executioner had not done two more electroshock rounds on him about half an hour ago. The burn marks on his temples were now darker and crispier patches.

The hot wax burned and gnawed at Kaoru's skin, yet dried quickly. This torture was quite a bit better than when bleach was poured on his open wounds.

Was this what the rest of his life would consist of? Comparing one torture to another?

Would that be the only highlight left in his life until the end? That one torture heaped upon him was better than another?

The doctor began sticking wicks into the still soft, yet hardening substance on his arms.

The doctor then slowly moved around Kaoru with a box of matches and lit each of the wicks until he looked like a living, breathing candle holder with over a dozen flames along his arms.

"Perfect," the doctor repeated again in a type of hushed voice.

He suddenly dropped the matches on the hard floor, causing Kaoru to jump a little and the flames on his arms to dance a bit fiercer.

The doctor suddenly crossed the room and took a black cloak off a hanger. It was similar to the executioners' clothes, but a deeper, darker black if possible. The doctor covered himself with the cloak and whether he buttoned it or zipped it, Kaoru did not know; all he knew was that he was now facing a figure now in pitch black clothing and a plague mask.

The doctor turned toward him and looked almost as though he were struggling slightly underneath the fabric. Kaoru discovered what the strange movements were when the doctor stepped forward and the white pants he was wearing before were crumpled on the cement floor. The quiet sound of unbuttoning then began as the doctor stepped forward. Soon enough, the shirt was on the ground as well.

Kaoru could hardly even focus on what this man was doing through his hazed mind as he began crawling up on the bed.

Soon enough, the doctor was straddling over Kaoru. His knees were on either side of Kaoru's hips and the nose of the mask was close to Kaoru's face. Kaoru stared into the dark holes that were the eyes; it was like staring into the face of a monster.

The doctor then brought his hand over to a side table that still held some thread and the needle. He brought a dark cloth to Kaoru's face; it looked like a spare piece of black fabric, yet still not as dark as the cloak covering the figure over top of him. The doctor placed it over Kaoru's face and tied it behind his head. All that was showing were his sewn-together lips and his chin.

That was when his vision went black, but it was not the sweet feeling of unconsciousness.

No, he could still feel everything.

He could see hear everything.

What he heard was the sound of rubber gloves coming off of the doctor's hands.

What he heard was the sound of the pitch black cloak fluttering around as it came off of the figure straddling him.

What he felt was the cloak falling off the figure and draping over his bruised and battered legs.

What he felt was soft, cold hands touching the crook of his neck and shoulders.

What he felt was the skin of another on his chest.

Kaoru was so extremely confused, yet not only because the doctor that had been torturing him was now straddling him, but for other reasons as well. The details he was able to pick up with his hazy mind confused him immensely.

The nails on the doctor's fingers were long as they gracefully grazed along his collar bones and neck.

Kaoru's shirt was brought up only slightly, and the fabric touching it felt like lace.

The legs that touched his own felt like they were covered in thin cloth, like tights or panty hose.

The next thing Kaoru felt was the feeling of hair as it fell down and barely touched his chin before it was quickly swiped away.

The flames along Kaoru's arms continued dancing along to the rhythm of nothing.

…


	8. 7: Brain Matter

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 7: Brain Matter  
**

Kyoya felt like he had been interrogating the man on the ground for hours, and perhaps he had. All he knew was that he was no closer to getting an answer out of this man than before.

The man's face was barely bleeding now, the blood caked on his face as it dried.

Kyoya pinched the skin between his eyes in frustration as the man continued to refuse answering any questions.

He only looked up when he heard quick, stomping footsteps.

There was no time to stop Hikaru as he kicked the man in the ribs as hard as he could and knelt down, pocket knife to the man's neck.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY BROTHER?!" Hikaru shouted, catching the attention of the others, who were still around the fire.

"TELL ME WHERE THE HELL KAORU IS!" Hikaru shouted again when all the man did was blubber incoherent words.

"Hikaru!" Kyoya snapped as he grabbed his shoulders.

Hikaru shoved him off with the arm that did not hold the knife. Kyoya was going to try stopping him again until Tamaki ran up to them, along with the others.

"Hikaru! No!" Haruhi shouted, her hands up.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!" Hikaru shouted once again, though still not getting a response. "If you don't answer-"

As the knife was pressed further into the crying man's neck, blood began dripping and covering the tip of the blade.

Hikaru's words were cut off as Tamaki shoved him backwards onto the grass.

Once he recovered from the shock of being tackled, Hikaru glared up at his boss. Tamaki did not back down, however, and remained on top of him and glared back. He held his arms down. The small knife lie neglected in the grass, out of Hikaru's reach.

Kyoya bent down and picked it up, then wiped the tiny amount of blood off on his own shirt.

"_What the hell are you doing?"_ Hikaru spat.

"Stopping you from doing something you'll regret," Tamaki responded with equal venom.

"Regret?" Hikaru smirked. "He was about to tell me where Kaoru was!"

"No he wasn't!" Tamaki shouted. "You're filled with this rage that's making you crazy!"

Hikaru continued glaring at the blonde above him for a few moments before he closed his eyes and sighed.

"I just want…" Hikaru's voice died away before he changed his choice of words. "I _need_ to find him."

Tamaki's facial expression softened, as did his voice, though it remained firm.

"I know. We all want to find him, and we will. We just need to keep our heads level. If we don't…" Tamaki did not finish his sentence, but Hikaru understood.

It was strange hearing Tamaki talk about keeping a level head considering he was the one that was always over exaggerating. If the circumstances were different, Hikaru would have made a joking remark at his expense.

Once Tamaki felt safe to let him off the ground, he removed his hands from the older twin's arms. Hikaru put a hand to his head, noticing his headache once again.

A hand reached out to him from where he still sat on the ground. Hikaru followed the arm up to Tamaki's face, which held a kind and caring grin, as if the glare had never even been there. That grin had always made Hikaru feel better in rough situations or simply on a rainy day, though he would never admit it.

Hikaru grasped Tamaki's hand and was pulled up.

"Th-thanks, boss," Hikaru said as he rubbed the back of his head.

Tamaki tilted his head and replied, "Of course."

"Hikaru?" Haruhi asked, coming up beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, you got hit in the head pretty hard, right?" Hunny asked.

Haruhi had been asking about his mental state, but his physical state was important too. It was a bit of a dumb question to ask about Hikaru's mental state at this point; she knew it was not fairing too well.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hikaru responded. "Just a small headache."

"We have Tylenol," Kyoya cut into the conversation as he still stood next to the man on the ground. "It is in the first aid kit."

"I'll get it, Hika-chan!" Hunny offered before running off to grab the kit.

The man on the ground attempted to sit up, but Kyoya calmly yet firmly put his foot on his chest and pushed him back down. The man accepted this.

For someone that was supposedly a kidnapper, or at least the aid to a kidnapper, he was not the bravest.

"Y-you look just like him," the man on the ground said after a few seconds of silence, Kyoya's foot still on his chest.

Mori, Haruhi, and Tamaki all turned their heads to look at him. Hikaru, however, stayed facing the other way; a shadow fell over his eyes as the man spoke.

"That's because we're twins, idiot," was all he responded with.

"O-oh," the man said lamely. "I understand. I would act the same way w-with my own brother."

"You mean the one also in the black cloak?" Kyoya asked.

"How did you know?"

"Because he was here when you were still passed out," Kyoya responded. "He told me to tell you he was sorry."

"He was here?" the man asked, surprised.

"Yes, and he did not seem too keen on saving _you_," Kyoya responded coolly.

The man fell silent and just stared up at the sky. The only thing that broke the silence was Hunny running up with two pills in one hand and a water bottle in the other.

"Here!" he said happily, holding them up to Hikaru.

"Oh shit!" Haruhi said suddenly before running back to the fire. "I completely forgot about the soup!"

"Language, Haruhi!" Tamaki cried. "Young ladies should not talk in such a way!"

Haruhi ignored him and knelt down at the fire. She quickly took the pot off the stove and set it in the grass. She stirred the steaming contents with a wooden spoon for a minute before she stopped suddenly.

There was a rustle in the woods, and she had the feeling it was not an animal.

"I-I'll tell you everything I know if I can just sit up," the man said suddenly, surprising everyone.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Kyoya asked.

The man did not answer, but Kyoya let him sit up, though still keeping a wearing eye on him and letting him notice Hikaru's knife still in his hand.

"I-I wish I had a brother like you," the man said in a saddened tone. "Kaoru is lucky to have a brother like you. Or, well…"

The worlds trailed away and Hikaru felt his blood run cold.

"Is he dead?" Hikaru asked dangerously.

"No," the man responded. "He's just…"

Haruhi did not look up. She was not sure whether it was fear or if she was just trying to listen; perhaps it was both.

The spoon was still in her hand, but the stirring was forgotten. Her eyes widened as feet appeared right next to her in the grass.

Before she could look up, a loud gun shot rang out into the air.

Hikaru waited for the man to finish his sentence, but grew impatient and whipped around.

"He's just what?!" he shouted right before the gunshot went off.

Kyoya's eyes widened as blood spattered up onto his face from the man's skull.

Haruhi felt as though she was going to be deafened. She quickly put her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, falling onto her knees and curling in on herself. The ringing in her ears was so loud and it felt like her skull was vibrating against her brain. The shot must have been right next to her head.

Hikaru's eyes widened as the blood spurted from the top of the man's head like a volcano.

It splattered onto Kyoya's pants, shirt, and face. It left rain-like droplets on the lenses of his glasses. The rest of the blood rained down onto the green grass.

Before they could recover from the first gun shot, another one was heard, hitting the man in the head again before he collapsed completely.

Mori whipped around, recovering quicker than the others and barely caught a glimpse of someone in an unfamiliar mask turning and running away. The next thing he noticed was Haruhi kneeling on the ground.

"Haruhi!" Mori shouted.

Everyone's attention snapped to their female friend and immediately ran over to her, though on shaky legs.

Haruhi felt Mori's big, strong hands on her shoulders. Her hands were trembling as she slowly lowered them from her ears.

She could hear her friends asking if she was alright, but it sounded like they were under water. She blinked a few times and knew she was saying words but she could not even hear herself properly.

Her friends, except for Tamaki, knew she needed a moment and shut up.

Once her head cleared, Haruhi could hear words properly again. What greeted her now non-deafened ears was Tamaki freaking out.

"Tamaki! I'm fine," Haruhi interrupted him. "I just…the gun shot was right next to my head. I couldn't hear anything."

"Did you happen to see who it was?" Hikaru asked, interrupting Tamaki as he was about to freak out even more.

Haruhi knew he was concerned for her, but he also wanted to know who the other uninvited guest was.

"N-no," she replied. "I'm sorry."

Hikaru sighed before mumbling, "It's alright. I'm just happy you're safe."

Haruhi looked up at him and gave a small smile before noticing Kyoya's appearance.

"Kyoya! Are you alright?!" Haruhi cried, standing up.

"I'm fine," Kyoya replied in a duller tone than usual.

"But…but you're all-"

"It's not my blood," Kyoya said before pointing back at the dead man on the ground. "It's his."

Hunny's eyes were watering and Mori went over and lifted him up into his arms as a way of comfort. Hikaru turned around and walked over to the dead man lying on the ground. As he walked away, he could hear Tamaki fussing over Haruhi once more.

The dead man's eyes were still open, or at least, one of them was. The left side of his head had taken both bullets. His left eyeball had gotten destroyed along with the rest of that part of his head; it now just looked like a rubbery object. The pupil was slightly still intact; it almost looked like a deflated balloon among the mass of blood, brain matter, and destroyed skin.

The blood had painted the grass red. Brain matter was scattered. Blood still pooled out of the gaping skull like a spilled can of red paint.

Hikaru thought about how these people had Kaoru.

The view in front of him was enough to make Hikaru feel nauseous, but the thought of these people having Kaoru was what made him empty the contents of his stomach right then and there.

…

**teheheheh**


	9. 8: Out

**I have finally moved out of my crappy apartment! There were good times there, but I am so happy to be rid of it. **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 8: Out**

What day was it?

What time was it?

Had it been a week? Had it been a month?

Kaoru felt as though the camping trip with his friends had all been a precious dream rather than a memory. It felt as though it had never occurred at all; that this was his life, and had been his life for forever. During the few moments of clarity in his mind, he would remind himself that his friends would find him and that this was not the end.

Tamaki would rush in and shout, "Little, Kaoru! We are here, never fear!"

Haruhi would assess his injuries and go in for a hug.

Kyoya would be writing something down and have an ambulance already on the way.

Hunny would jump on him and hug him tightly while Mori would bend over and stare at him with his expressionless face; though, Kaoru would know that he was concerned. It was a strange closeness that they all had with each other. Mori, the strong and silent type, could easily be read by all six of them no matter how blank his face was.

Hikaru.

Hikaru would be beside himself with worry. He would possibly cry and hold onto his hand and not let go until the ambulance arrived.

Following these thoughts would come another thought that had been pushing all of the comforting thoughts away like a bully.

Were his friend even still alive?

Kaoru's eyes were closed, though the sweet feeling of unconsciousness would not take him. Hardened wax still remained on his wounded arms and legs. The original thread in his lips were no longer in his skin. The doctor had burned them off a while ago, leaving burns on his face. Afterwards, the doctor sewed his mouth shut again.

The doctor had then proceeded to sew more thread through his flesh. He pulled both ears over and sewed them to the side of his face so that they were flapped nearly closed, leaving his hearing muffled. Finally, the doctor had performed a tarsorrhaphy on his left eye – sewing the corners of his eyelids shut – making seeing on that side difficult.

If Kaoru had had a clear mind at the time, he would have wondered whether the doctor was trying to turn him into some type of Raggedy Ann doll.

Kaoru lie on the hospital bed, thread weaved throughout parts of his head like a realistic voodoo doll. He wished that sleep would take him. Or perhaps death would be sweeter.

The door opened violently and the executioner walked in at a brisk pace.

Kaoru's eye opened only a fraction. He assumed another torture session awaited, though, he was not sure if he could survive it.

The muffled words that emanated from behind the black mask shocked Kaoru. It did not just surprise him because he had not heard either executioners' speak, but because the words spoken were not expected at all.

"Come on, kid," the man said. "I'm getting you out of here."

**…**

Hikaru took deep breaths over the wreaking puddle of stomach acid in the grass. That was the only other sound aside from the occasional buzz of a bug and the tweet of a bird

These sounds were all too natural. They were too normal. He had vaguely heard the quiet roar of a plane far, far overhead in the sky. How could the day continue running as though everything was normal? As though everything were alright? Everything was not normal, and everything was certainly not alright.

Kaoru was still missing. Kaoru was still in the possession of whoever had destroyed the skull of the dead man in front of him.

The thought just about made him puke again, if there was anything left in his stomach aside from stomach acid, he surely would have.

When the sun began to set in the sky, he let out silent tears.

Visions of Kaoru's bleeding, lifeless body kept appearing in his mind.

Hikaru had never felt so helpless. He had never felt like such an awful brother. Never in his life had he felt like _this._

Hikaru stood up slowly. His arms dangled with his slumped posture. Tears were still falling, but a shadow was over his eyes. He was clenching his teeth together so tight that his jaws were beginning to cramp. As an image of Kaoru's sweet, smiling face appeared in his mind, Hikaru fiercely wiped away his tears.

With a steady look of determination, he began walking toward the. His shoes squished through the brain matter and blood that coated the ground. He heard one of his friends calling his name, but the image of Kaoru's smiling face followed by his lifeless body prevented him from paying much mind.

"Hikaru, wait!" Haruhi called, along with Tamaki and Hunny.

It was not until he was under the trees that he stopped, but it was not his friends calling his name that stopped him on his trek. It was the sound of rustling coming from ahead.

It did not sound like an animal, nor like someone walking. It sounded like something being slowly dragged along the ground. He could hear it drag, then stop, drag, then stop. He focused on the sound, trying to figure out what it could be. It was also so faint, Hikaru wondered if he was imagining it.

Suddenly, Hikaru felt a hand on his shoulder.

His breath hitched in his throat and he whipped around, his heart pounding in his chest.

Tamaki pulled his hand back, "Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you."

Hikaru took in a deep breath and placed a hand to his chest, feeling the heavy beating begin to slow.

"I thought it was made quite clear that no one should be venturing off alone," Kyoya stated.

Hikaru did not respond. Instead, he turned his head in the direction of the mysterious noise, which seemed to have stopped.

"Hika-"

"_Sh!"_ Hikaru silenced Haruhi rather harshly, and she shut up immediately.

There were a few moments of silence until Hikaru turned his head and looked at his friends. The noise had started up again.

"Do you hear that?"

Tamaki, Kyoya, Mori, Hunny, and Haruhi all tilted their heads. It took a few moments before they heard what Hikaru was talking about.

Mori furrowed his eyebrows seriously while Tamaki whispered, "Stay here."

Haruhi was about to ask him if he was crazy, but Mori put his hand on Tamaki's shoulder.

Tamaki's face became less serious and he looked up at Mori, confusion in his blue eyes.

"I'll go with you," Mori stated seriously.

Tamaki's mouth was open, but he closed it and his face became serious again. He followed the tall young man as he began walking forward. Mori's hand slipped out of Hunny's grasp.

Hikaru followed the two as well without saying a word, determination once again lighting his eyes. Whoever it was that was ahead of them, they would reveal where Kaoru was; Hikaru would make sure of it.

"If you need us-" Haruhi said bravely, putting a step forward.

Mori turned his head and gave a rare, knowing smile before continuing his trek into the woods with Tamaki and Hikaru.

The three continued walking until the remaining few could barely see their outlines.


	10. 9: Face From A Nightmare

**A/N: Ahh, guys I am so sorry about the wait. A lot has been happening lately and I am working on getting my life sorted out. I have already briefly explained this to one of my story reviewers/followers, so I bet some of you who do not have an account think I fell off the face of the Earth. I haven't! I just lost my writing determination for a little while.**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 9: Face From A Nightmare**

Kaoru was dropped off in a random area of the woods. The executioner had carried him and placed his broken body on the grass. The only thing that Kaoru had managed to process in his muddled mind was the man pointing and saying, "Your camp is that way. I can't take you so just…try and get there the best you can."

Kaoru's breathing was ragged and he was so incredibly weak. There was so much pain all over his body that he was not sure how he would manage to get back to the camp.

He could not walk due to the cracked bones and deep bruising to his legs; adding on to this were the gashes littering the bottom of his feet from when he was whipped. He could hardly crawl due to his broken right wrist and hand. His left arm was all he could really use somewhat properly, but that would be difficult as well with two of his fingers missing. To add on to the injuries, was the way that the doctor had wrapped the barbed wire around his wrists again.

The executioner did not remove any of the gruesome accessories; he merely said, "Good luck," and disappeared into the woods.

Kaoru could hear birds chirping innocently around him. A squirrel skirted around him on its way to its home with a nut in its mouth. A fly landed on his blood-covered hand.

Kaoru slowly began crawling the best he could along the ground using his right elbow and left arm.

Pain enveloped him further as the crawling irritated the burns on his arms from the boiling water treatment. There were still bits of wax covering his arms and legs as he moved. The deep gashes on his back began fiercely burning once again from both the bleach and the improper treatment; the moving only made it worse. He could feel the gashes opening up further and beginning to bleed once more.

His mind was extremely muddled from the electroshock treatments and the fact that he was in serious pain and was suffering through extreme trauma.

He did not know how long he had been crawling along the ground, yet, he continued on; knowing that at the end, extreme pain or not, he would be with his friends and brother again.

Dirt was getting caked onto his open wounds, stinging them and causing further pain.

Kaoru could not breathe through his mouth due to the fact that it was sewn shut; the only breaths he could gather were from his nose, yet, his breathing was noisy and ragged as though he had a cough in his throat that would not come out. He could hardly hear because his ears were flapped over and sewn almost completely to his head. He could barely see through his left eye due to the corners being sewn shut.

Kaoru only had his determination to rely on at this point, because just about everything physical was injured and hurting.

Finally, after what felt like hours, he collapsed into the grass. He felt so weak. He wanted to keep going, but he felt all of his strength dwindling down to nothing.

Some late afternoon sunlight gleamed through the leaves and branches above him.

Kaoru had his head lying to the side in the grass. Through the smell of blood, bleach, and other odors, was the scent of grass. It was such a simple smell, yet seemed so sweet to Kaoru.

His eye slowly began to close, his vision becoming gradually blurry.

Suddenly, there was a familiar, female voice that came from ahead.

"Hikaru, wait!"

Kaoru's eye snapped open.

…

Hikaru, Tamaki, and Mori followed the slow dragging sound. They had to stop a couple of times and wait for it to start up again; when it did they would immediately begin walking once more.

None of them were quite sure what they would find when they got to the source of the sound. Tamaki wondered if it was just a carnivore dragging its prey. He did not say anything to the others about this. None of them had spoken since leaving the group.

"Wait," Mori stated suddenly.

Hikaru and Tamaki stopped and looked at him.

"What is it?" Tamaki asked.

Hikaru furrowed his eyebrows, slightly annoyed that they had stopped, until he heard a new sound. This sound made his blood run cold and his eyes grow wide.

Ragged breathing could be heard.

Ahead were thick, thorny bushes they could not see past. They had gotten there right at the point of the figure being inside the brush.

All three of them held their breath as they waited for whoever or whatever was in the bushes to reveal itself.

At one point Tamaki had put his hand on Hikaru's shoulder. Considering the way he had been acting as of late, he did not want him darting forward.

Suddenly, an arm covered in burns, blisters, dirt, and blood reached out through the bushes. The wrist had fresh and old blood underneath barbed wire, which was wrapped around like a bracelet. The pinky and ring finger were missing, leaving open, bloody stubs. The blood from when they were removed was stained on the hand, leaving no more natural skin color; the hand itself was completely red from the blood.

The fingers that remained dug into the ground, dirt going up underneath the nails.

More ragged breathing was heard.

Through the brush came a flash of orange hair, while dirty and greasy, it was still bright.

With the hair came the face.

The once-joyful and lively face that the trio loved was replaced with one that they could only imagine seeing in their worst nightmares.

"KAORU!" Hikaru cried in horror.

…


	11. 10: Plaintive

**A/N: Again, thanks so much for the reviews! They mean so much to me!**

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 10: Plaintive**

"KAORU!" Haruhi, Kyoya, and Hunny heard the cry that had obviously come from Hikaru.

Haruhi recalled hearing Hikaru call Kaoru's name when a vase almost landed on him from a second story window. Hikaru had believed that Kaoru had gotten injured, and he was scared. This tone, however, was unlike anything Haruhi had ever heard.

Haruhi started to run forward, but Kyoya grabbed her.

"Kyoya! We have to-" Haruhi started, but Kyoya interrupted her.

"No. We can't go running off into the woods and risk losing our way. Clearly, they have found Kaoru, but we need to stay here to help them when they come back."

"But, what if they need our help now?" Hunny asked, fear lacing his voice.

"Mori can carry Kaoru back with no problem," Kyoya answered. "We need to stay put."

Haruhi and Hunny looked uncertain. They wanted so desperately to go and see Kaoru; after all, he had been missing for days and they had all been extremely worried. Haruhi would not admit it, but she had begun to believe that their friend was dead.

Haruhi hoped that it was not Kaoru's dead body that they had found. She clenched her hands at the very thought.

**...**

Hikaru sobbed as he latched onto Kaoru the best he could without hurting him further.

It was so difficult.

Every single part of his body was battered, beaten, and bruised. There were so many different substances covering his skin and clothes; dirt, thorns, blood, and there were scents that proved even more.

Kaoru smelled of blood, bleach, and oddly enough, mandarines. If anguish had a specific smell, that would be the aroma emitting from Kaoru's very form at that moment.

Hikaru had fallen onto his knees and was leaning over Kaoru. His face was so close to his brother's that Kaoru just knew it was not a mirage nor a sweet dream. Hikaru's tears were falling onto Kaoru's face. The salty liquid streamed between the stitching on his mouth. Although he never enjoyed seeing his brother cry, it was even more proof that Kaoru needed to know that this was indeed happening.

It was his brother. He was with his brother.

Finally.

Tears fell from Kaoru's eyes in pure joy, though, to the others it could have been tears of pain, fear, and confusion.

"It's okay, Kaoru. It's okay!" Tamaki said, finally snapping out of his shock. "We're here. It's okay now."

Tamaki also fell to his knees next to Kaoru and tried to find anywhere on his body he could touch him; anywhere at all that would not damage the boy further.

Kaoru was even overjoyed to hear his boss' voice. To feel his touch and see his brilliantly blonde hair, even if it was faint through his eyes that were partially shut.

"We need to get him back to camp," Mori said, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

Mori was supposed to be the strong, silent type. Yet, at the sight of his friend lying on the ground covered in blood and his face stitched up like a rag doll, he had to fight to keep his voice steady. Not only that, but to keep himself from running to find whoever did this right then and there.

"Right," Tamaki said with a slight determination, though with tears still falling from his eyes. "There's...there's a First Aid kit...Kaoru, we are bringing you back to camp okay? We are going to get you help."

Tamaki tried to steady his voice and wipe the tears away, but they just continued flowing from his eyes. It was as if the tears he had been wanting to shed in stress over wanting to find Kaoru were finally breaking free.

Mori did not like seeing his friends cry; he never did. Of course, they would use fake tears when they were still in the Host Club, but that was different. This was real.

So very real.

"M-Mori, can you carry Kaoru?" Tamaki choked out.

Mori nodded.

"Hikaru, we have to let Mori carry him now," Tamaki said, putting his hand on Hikaru's shoulder gently.

When Hikaru would not budge, Tamaki tried again.

"Kaoru, we have to-"

"No!" Hikaru shouted brokenly. "I'll do it! I'll..."

Hikaru's words trailed off into loud sobs.

Kaoru wanted to bring his hand up and touch his brother's face. He wanted to comfort him and let him know it was okay, but he could not. He did not even have the energy to lift his arm. He was still so tired from the long crawl to get to this safe zone.

"Hika-" Tamaki started.

"I will be more steady, Hikaru," Mori said seriously. "I know you don't want to move away from Kaoru, but wouldn't you rather someone steadier carry him so as not to make his injuries worse?"

Hikaru did not answer for a few moments. Finally, he gave one loud sniff and wiped at his eyes before giving Kaoru an austere, but loving look.

"I'm not going anywhere. Okay, Kaoru? I'll be right here the whole time," Hikaru said with determination.

Hikaru was determined. No way would he let these people lay a finger, or so much as breathe on his brother ever again.

Hikaru bent down and kissed his brother on the forehead, not caring about the blood and the grime. He then set his forehead against his brother's. They stayed like this for a few moments, simply sharing each other's warmth.

When the two brothers parted, Mori stepped forward. He leaned down and gently began lifting up the small red-head, but he barely jostled him when Kaoru let out a cry of pain behind his sewn lips. Tamaki had to hold Hikaru back as a reminder that Mori had it covered, though the sound that had emitted from Kaoru's throat made more tears fall from his eyes as he watched his broken brother being lifted off the ground.

"Shh, it's okay, Kaoru," Mori soothed in a manner that Tamaki and Hikaru had rarely heard him use even with Hunny.

Mori slowly finished scooping up Kaoru in a bridal carry, having to resist the whines of protest.

Although it was hard to tell from his straight face, Mori's heart broke further with each whine, whimper, and moan that Kaoru let out.

Mori noticed the crooked angle of Kaoru's right wrist and ever so gently situated it on Kaoru's stomach so it would not be jostled further; this earned him a loud sob from the red-head. The three could not imagine the pain that Kaoru was in at that moment, and they had not even fully assessed his injuries.

The three began walking in the direction of their camp and where they had left their other three friends. Kaoru let out a frantic and desperate noise as he moved his free arm weakly.

Hikaru understood and immediately grabbed his brother's hand. As he did so, however, he noticed details that he did not see before. Of course, having been frantic upon seeing Kaoru again, he did not assess the injuries on his limbs like he did on his face.

"What the-" Hikaru gasped out as he looked at Kaoru's left hand.

Hikaru had to stop himself from stumbling at the sight as he walked alongside Mori.

There was wax covering part of his hand, which explained the faint mandarine scent. There was barbed wire wrapped around his wrist, blood coating the dull grey color of the metal. Yet , this was not the most shocking detail.

Kaoru's pinky and ring finger were missing.

Hikaru let out a broken sob as fresh tears began falling from his face.

"What the fuck-what the fuck did they do to you, Kaoru?" Hikaru said brokenly, his voice laced with tears and sadness.

Kaoru's remaining fingers wrapped weakly around Hikaru's hand as a way of comforting him. Even in his current state, Kaoru was trying to comfort his beloved twin brother.

Hikaru did not care about how gorey Kaoru's hand was; he pressed his lips to two of the remaining fingers and kissed them gently.

If Hikaru ever saw these monsters again, he would kill them.

**...**


	12. 11: Cauterize

**A/N: **I hope all students had good finals! Also hope everyone had good holidays!

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 11: Cauterize**

Kyoya never believed he would see anything more gruesome than when he was fourteen and watched a "commoner" skin a buck. He realized that belief was shattered when he ripped the stitched mask off of that man's face before witnessing his head getting blown to bits. There was no way he would see anything worse than that, right?

Wrong.

He was so very wrong.

When he saw the state Kaoru was in, he was speechless. He was not sure what he expecting when they saw Kaoru again, but he definitely never imagined it being anything like this. Hell, from the looks on everyone else's faces, no one expected anything like this.

Kaoru was a gruesome, bloodied mess.

Hunny immediately began crying at the sight. Haruhi, who never cried, began to as well.

Kyoya was trying to make his legs move. He was trying to make his hands reach out to assess the damage. He was trying to say something, and yet he could not.

He was supposed to be the voice of reason, but he could not even say a single word. Perhaps that added on to the panic that had already stricken the group; The one who always had a plan or something intelligent to say was speechless.

"Kyoya!" Tamaki's voice snapped him out of it and his eyes met his boss'.

Tamaki could see that Kyoya was disturbed; they all were, but now was not the time to get hung up on their own thoughts.

Tamaki was being the voice of reason at the moment.

If the situation was not so serious, Kyoya would have the urge to laugh.

He shook his head lightly and a stony look came over his face as he pushed up his glasses.

"We have to get him back to camp," Kyoya said. "Haruhi, Hunny, run ahead and get a comfy bed set up in one of the tents. I will get the first aid supplies ready."

Haruhi ferociously wiped her tears away, though her eyes were still red, and nodded. Hunny allowed his tears to continue flowing freely down his face, but he nodded as well. Both took off running back to the campsite.

"We will try and get a signal with our phones once we get Kaoru settled," Kyoya said.

"We haven't been able to get a signal at all since-" Tamaki started.

"I know," Kyoya interrupted. "We...I'll figure something out."

Tamaki nodded and followed Kyoya as he hurried toward the camp to ready the first aid supplies. Tamaki did not want him to travel alone in such dangerous woods.

Mori began walking at his quick, steady pace once again. Hikaru followed, his hand still in Kaoru's.

Kaoru's eye was almost completely shut. His legs were weakly swinging slightly as Mori walked. He was surprised that Kaoru was even still awake. How on earth was he not passed out from exhaustion or pain?

Regardless, Mori was just happy that he was in his arms, because being in his arms meant that he was safe.

**…**

The bed that Hunny and Haruhi set up was cushioned with three different sleeping bags and two blankets. There was a pillow for Kaoru's head and a few off to the side as extras.

When they had finally gotten Kaoru to the tent and placed him on the bed, there was a mutual feeling of relief. He was back with them. There was no more wondering where he was or whether he was alive or dead. Of course, they also knew that they were not out of the woods yet, literally.

They needed to get out of there. On top of that, Kaoru needed real medical help. Kyoya was doing his best, but his best would not be good enough.

Kyoya had gently placed Kaoru's deeply bruised legs on pillows. He could tell that the tibia in his right leg was cracked, but thankfully, not completely broken. The best he could do for his broken right arm and wrist was put it in a sling and rest it on his chest, the hand partly resting on a pillow that lay by his ribs.

Anger raged through Kyoya as he had snipped away the sewing thread from Kaoru's mouth, eye, and ears. Kaoru opened his mouth a tiny bit wider and took a deeper, though still ragged, breath.

Haruhi was helping the best she could. She had gently removing the barbed wire from Kaoru's other hand and was now working on disinfecting his injuries.

Hunny and Mori had gone out to try and find a cell phone signal. Tamaki was standing outside the tent, keeping watch.

Hikaru had wiped away the blood from Kaoru's face with a cold, wet cloth, all the while speaking soft, comforting words to him. He was now dabbing at the burn marks on his brother's head. Every whimper that came from his brother made Hikaru grit his teeth.

When Haruhi, Kyoya, and Hikaru had finished cleaning Kaoru up the best they could, Kyoya began examining him again. Kyoya noted the open finger holes, how they were covered in dirt and had clearly been untreated, just like all of the other wounds.

"We will need to do something about the gashes on his back soon," Kyoya said, looking at Hikaru, who did not respond. "First, though, we need to do something about those open finger wounds."

Haruhi looked up at Kyoya, immediately knowing what he meant. A stony expression came over her face.

"We need to cauterize them before they get infected," Kyoya continued, causing Hikaru to let out a shaky sigh and close his eyes.

Hikaru knew he was right, but that did not mean he wanted it to happen.

They had all hoped Hunny and Mori would find a phone signal, but they were running out of time.

Tamaki heard Kyoya's words from outside the tent and put a hand to his forehead, and tried to calm his shaky breathing.

**... **


	13. 12: Agony

**A/N: **Sorry for my absence. Thanks all for the loyal followers/readers and reviewers for this story! You all are just so grand.

**The Skin House**

**Chapter 12: Agony**

The sun set in the sky over the make-shift campground. The sky was a beautiful peach color with bits of bright pink scattered about. Birds flew around overhead, chirping and squawking as they made their way back home to their nests.

Haruhi was staring into the fire that was steadily burning. She was cooking food on a skillet that sat on top of a grate. None of them had an appetite, but despite their current situation, she knew they needed to eat.

A kettle sat on the grate next to the skillet. She could hear the water in it beginning to bubble. A large, multipurpose pocket knife was lying in a bucket of water next to her foot. Its original purpose was simply for camping-related things. Now, it was just the tool that had been used to cauterize Kaoru's gaping finger wounds.

They had heated the blade in the fire until it was red hot, then, holding the handle with a towel, Kyoya pressed the flat side against the wounds.

The sizzling of the flesh as the hot blade sealed up the skin was sickeningly similar to the sound of the sausages cooking on the skillet before her. She closed her eyes before opening them again to look off toward the woods. She hoped that Hunny, Mori, and Kyoya came back soon. Kyoya had decided to go join the two since there was no more he could do for Kaoru at that point but find a signal to get out of these horrid woods.

Haruhi looked back down at the fire. Lying right underneath the grate was the barbed wire she had removed from Kaoru's arms. They were burning a bright, glowing orange color.

…

Tamaki was sitting in the tent, elbows resting on his knees. He stared at the twins lying next to each other. Hikaru was holding Kaoru's left hand; as soon as it had been cauterized and bandaged, he had clasped it as gently as possible. It was only when Kaoru closed his eyes and fell into a restless sleep that he burst into tears.

It was not the same as before. When Hikaru and Kaoru held hands there were always the five fingers there, entwined with his own. Now, only three remained.

After Haruhi had shared some comforting words to Hikaru and kissed Kaoru gently on the forehead, she mentioned cooking food. Tamaki had remained in the tent to comfort Hikaru. Tamaki had let him cry into his shoulder until exhaustion finally consumed the older twin and he fell asleep.

Tamaki had been watching Kaoru's restlessly-sleeping form. He was breathing shallow breaths and his cheeks had a pink tint to them. Kyoya had warned that a fever would likely hit him. To prepare for this, he had brought in two bottles of water and a rag, which Tamaki had been lightly wetting once in a while and placing on Kaoru's forehead.

…

Kyoya spun around slowly, stretching his arm as far as it could go toward the sky. Much to his frustration, however, he still could not get a signal from his cell phone.

About thirty feet away were Mori and Hunny. Kyoya had hoped that at least Mori would get a signal considering he was the tallest of the group. He had even more hope that Hunny could get one from climbing into a tree. So far, however, there was no success.

They were running out of time. With each hour that passed, the risk that the psychopaths would show up again increased. On top of that, without proper medical treatment, Kaoru would continue to get worse. The thought of what could happen if they did not attain a phone signal made worry clench in his chest. He was trying his best to not let the others notice, however, he had been feeling his cool and collected nature slipping away.

Kyoya sighed in aggravation, bringing his arm down. He resisted the urge to chuck his cell phone against a tree.

If they did not find a signal by the end of the day, Kyoya would make the group decision of escaping by foot. There was almost no doubt in his mind that they would cross paths with the psychopaths if they did so, but what other choice was there? Of course, they would do all they could to ensure no more harm got to Kaoru or the rest of them.

Kyoya took a deep breath and looked down at the cell phone that had been failing him for days. Just as he was about to lift it up and try again, Hunny's high-pitched shout reached his ears.

"I've got something!"

…

Haruhi poked the cooked sausages with a fork and put them on a paper plate. Now that the food was cooked and the savory scent was wafting up into her nose, her stomach began to growl. After all, how long had it been since they had all eaten?

"Haruhi!"

She turned around to see Hunny waving at her from his spot on Mori's shoulders. He had a brighter smile on his face than she had seen since the beginning of this nightmare. Hope immediately gave a lift to her spirits.

"Hunny got a signal," Kyoya informed her.

"Really? That's great!"

"Yep! From up in a tree! We'll be out of here in no time!" Hunny chirped, causing Haruhi to smile brightly up at him.

"Not so fast," Kyoya said, causing both of their cheerful expressions to fall.

"Hm? What's up?" Haruhi asked.

"We cannot forget that those people are still out there somewhere. There's no telling when they'll show up again. They haven't bothered us for a bit, but I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of them."

Kyoya paused for a moment and looked toward the tent that held Kaoru, Hikaru, and Tamaki.

"When I go with Hunny and he climbs that tree to call for help, we need to be ready. Ready for them to come back and attack us, kill us, take Kaoru again, or who knows what."

Mori nodded, an even more serious look coming over his face.

He would not be there to protect Hunny from any dangers. He would have to remain at camp to carry Kaoru in case they had to run. Therefore, trusting that Kyoya and Hunny would be alright on their own was the only option.

Despite Hunny being a little karate master, the worry still lingered.

…

Hikaru turned his head when he heard the tent flap open.

"Hi," he greeted, sounded a bit more refreshed.

"Hello," Kyoya said.

Tamaki was sleeping on the other side of the tent, lightly snoring. Kyoya smiled a bit, glad that their boss was finally able to rest.

Kyoya knelt down and began examining Kaoru. Thankfully no blood had seeped through the bandages on his feet, but he was sure his back was another story.

"How bad is his fever?"

Hikaru gently pressed the back of his hand against Kaoru's cheek. The intense warmth of his skin worried him deeply, and he could tell that when Kyoya followed suit he was concerned as well.

"I need to take a look at his back."

Hikaru looked rather reluctant, not wanting to cause his brother anymore pain.

"He needs to drink water anyway."

Hikaru nodded and took a breath before removing the wet cloth from Kaoru's forehead and gently waking him. When Kaoru opened his eyes it took a few seconds for him to understand what was going on and where he was.

"Kaoru…Kao! It's okay. It's us remember?" Hikaru soothed as his brother began weakly inching away in a poor attempt to escape his captors.

The fear faded from his eyes as he focused on Hikaru and Kyoya.

That was right, he was with his brother and friends again. Though, how he managed that was quite a blur. All he could recall was lying in the woods and then suddenly he was in Mori's arms. The other's blurry faces were around him and he could remember voices that sounded as though he were listening from another room.

"You need to drink something, Kaoru," Hikaru said. "But first, Kyoya needs to check the wounds on your back."

Kaoru merely nodded and Hikaru found himself missing his voice even more. He had not really heard it for days.

Kyoya helped sit Kaoru up. Each groan and whimper he made caused them to feel terrible. They did not like the fact that they were causing Kaoru pain, but they also both knew it needed to be done. Kyoya also knew that checking on the gashes that covered his back would not prove to feel at all pleasant either.

Kaoru was leaning all of his weight against Hikaru. His head lay against his chest, the arm that was not in the sling was slung over his shoulder. Hikaru stroked the back of his neck with his thumb in hopes of comfort.

Kyoya lifted up the shirt and pulled back the bandages, earning a whine of pain. Kyoya could not help the wince as he saw what could only be the beginning of a serious staph infection. The gashes were no longer bleeding, but the surrounding skin was a flaming red. Kyoya began removing the rest of the bandages, and as he did so, bits of skin began coming off as well.

Hikaru noticed Kyoya's grave expression, which only concluded what he already knew: Kaoru was worse than before and getting worse by the minute.

Kyoya put the soiled bandages to the side and began preparing more.

Kaoru let the tears fall as the pain intensified. He tried to focus on his brother's thumb stroking his neck.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru," Kyoya said in a sorrowful, guilty tone that was rarely heard from him. "I'm so sorry. I'm almost done, okay?"

Kaoru could not help the cries that he was emitting. He wanted to fall back into unconsciousness. He did not want to feel the burns on his arms, the cracked bones in his legs, or the deep wounds on his back.

"It's okay, Kao. It'll all be over soon," Hikaru soothed, his voice tight with emotion.

Then, he heard his brother speak. He finally heard his brother's sweet voice again, but it was not words he wanted to hear. They were words that clenched at his heart.

"I-it h-hurts Hika…w-why won't it s-stop…"

Hikaru shut his eyes tight and continued stroking his brother's neck.

"It will, Kaoru. It will. I promise."

…


End file.
